What is the Real Advantage to ScaffoldColumn Attribute set to False in MVC 3 Model ID Properties

Question

I’m new to MVC and when I built my model classes for a code first approach each key ID column had the attribute [ScaffoldColumn(false)] set. I did this because I didn’t want the IDs displayed in the views obviously, and I know that a work around to this problem would be deleting the HTML generated by the UI in each view that contains an ID field.

The problem I ran into by using ScaffoldColumn set to false in the Models was first noticed when an Edit method for a view was fired off, and I received this error: Store update, insert, or delete statement affected an unexpected number of rows (0). When I ran the code in debug the ID property was in fact set to zero as indicated in my view Edit HttpPost method.

My Question that I hope someone might elaborate on, is what’s the point in having an attribute like ScaffoldColumn in MVC if the ID is not being sent to a controller method(s) like in this case an Edit HttpPost? Should I just go about this the old fashion way, and delete the HTML markup in each view created by the MVC temples generated when this attribute is not added to a key/foreign key properties?

The work around I found if you set this attribute to false was adding an ID param to each HttpPost method, and than setting the appropriate ID property field prior to calling SaveChanges().

Answer 1

You could use data annotations for this and work with:

[HiddenInput(DisplayValue=false)]

This way, your field will be displayed using a hidden input into the view. No need to make any changes, the view will know how to display it.